06: I Don’t Hate It Here…But I Just Work Here

Let’s be honest, adult life is just an elaborate game of “Fetch”. It’s our bank account and bills urging us to “go get it!”, and we put on our collar — blue or white — and do the best we can. But does it have to be this way? The New York Times’ article, “Why You Hate Work”, tackles this problem of work-weariness in an excellent fashion. Written Christine Porath and Tony Schwartz, the CEO of The Energy Project, a consulting firm that works with organizations and their leaders to improve employee engagement and more sustainable performance, it speaks about the different ways in which a company can make the employees more involved in their work.

The basic criteria for involvement that The Energy Project looks at 14-point system that includes range of things like regular time for thinking and creative work and ability to focus on one thing at a time to ability to disengage from work and comfort in being truly yourself. Unsurprisingly, many companies did not comply to this system. It definitely explains why most people go to work only so that they could feed and clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads. They don’t feel motivated enough to look at work as anything but.

I tried to tie this back to my own work life. Most places I’ve worked at are in compliance with the above mentioned system. I don’t know whether that is because they were startups or if it was because I truly enjoyed what I was doing at the time. Sure there were days when I wished I was doing something else, everyone has one of those. But overall, my experiences have been pleasant enough that I would truly find no reason NOT to go work.

At the end of the day I do believe it is a two-way street; if you are not doing what you love doing, then no matter how hard your company tries you will never feel involved.